I do not tire of returning and writing about good causes that catch my fancy. Even at the expense of boring some of those who take time out to humour me and flatter me by reading and more importantly responding to my literary exertions for a better society. I have written again and again on Governments and Governors. Sule Lamido has received at least two features from my mailbox. He is one of the Governors in the current dispensation who has caught the fancy of the people of Nigeria. Not just his poorest of the poor State of Jigawa, my state of Kano’s most prized sibling and valued neighbour and partner. Today, I turn again to Sule Lamido. No doubt my favourite Governor Lamido reminds me of Architect Aminu Dabo in his opening steps on assuming the office of Jigawa State Governor some six months back. You’d say what has a whole Governor got to have in common with a mere ex-commissioner, ex-MD NPA, ex-PDP Governorship Candidate? Especially as Aminu Dabo is not/has not been elected Governor. What is in Commissioner Dabo to warrant comparison to Governor Lamido? Well when Dabo’s very close and bosom friend, Kano’s PDP Governor, from 1999 to 2003, Engineer (Dr.) Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso named him Commissioner in the Land and Regional Planning Ministry the very first thing the man did was to pay his dues to God, the Almighty. That is the baseline for comparison, in my view. For those of us even then in opposing All Peoples Party who were observing the moves of Dabo we were taken in by his totally renovation of his Ministry’s mosque, providing worshippers pipe-borne water, adorning it with all the tiles and exotic looks that came to be associated with all the architectural delights he was involved with in his tenure, redesigning Kano on behalf of his boss and friend, Governor Kwankwaso. For doing this and later turning to things more temporal Dabo got all the support he needed from God to tackle his assignment with unprecedented zeal and success. God supports those who are conscious of His Presence whenever they are favoured by Him. That probably is why never before Dabo, as Commissioner of Land, nor since have as many Kano people, and many more non-Kano people too, being allocated plots of land by the Government of the State. Thousands and thousands of people of all levels, the high and mighty, politicians and non-politicians got plots of land, many got redesigned patches of land, many more got owner-occupier houses. And he was subsequently so favoured that he got a bigger job, two or three years on as Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) MD. Though falling out (UNFORTUNATELY!, I must admit) with his boss and friend Kwankwaso and not becoming Governor, he -- despite many pressures from many quarters over allegations of unwholesome deals he may have been ordered into by higher authorities -- is still a free man. Because, I think he is basically a good man and a man who pays his dues to his Creator in any assignment he gets, as his first deed in office. That is his key to success. And it is that same key Sule Lamido appears to have found. That is why I say Lamido as Governor today reminds me of Dabo. And that is one reason why I have this feeling that Lamido may also have much more hope than many other Governor-mates of his for higher callings.

No one can say enough of the import of Lamido’s positive vibes so far in Jigawa. His tackling of the historical nightmares of the destitute that the man as Governor of Jigawa did as his first act in government was the act I consider paying initial dues to God, acknowledging His Presence before swinging into subsequent businesses of governance. Like all governments before his in old Kano and now in Jigawa all newly elected Governors have this tradition that on the day they take the oath of office they unveil some earthshaking policy with an eye on history and lasting historical implications. The 1979 first civilian Governor of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Abubakar Rimi did away with the then obnoxious, oppressive and misused jangali and haraji, the cattle and poll tax.

His PRP Government also freed the cap and turban wearing Kano people of the cumbersome use of crash helmets. Tales are that the forcible use of crash helmets was legislated to make quick lucrative business for some lucky well connected cronies of General Obasanjo’s then outgoing government in 1979. What percentage of accident victims die for lack of crash helmets. On this note please permit, Dear Reader that I make a RELATED DETOUR here into more modern and current history and nuisance-filled facts equally relevant today, Pray, how many accidents on intra-city roads are fatal because of lack of seat belts that the overzealous Road Safety (FRSC) boys bother city drivers over? Can any one save us, city drivers, please! I have no quarrel with use of seat belts in inter-city highways. In fact I know its uses from personal experience. I would have lost my driver but for the restraint of his seat belt on a Kano-Maiduguri highway accident we had some seven years back! But for God’s sakes FRSC, why bother us on our sleepy city roads? Come. Let’s go back to Lamido and his state government of Jigawa and payment of dues to the Creator, the Lord of the Heavens and the Earth. Lamido could well be said to have first paid his Government’s dues to the Creator on his first day in government, taking care of the “mustadh’afin” of the “mustadh’afin” (those at the lowest rung of the ladder in society) ordering monthly basic living wages for those who go to sleep hungry because they were both poor and helpless on account of deformities by birth or other natural causes. Very apt when you recall what I am told God exhorts mankind: “Be kind and bestow favours to those (the weak) on earth, and the Heavens will be kind and bestow favours on you”. This act of kindness and charity appears to now be paying off for the Lamido Government just five/six months into his tenure. And handsomely too; like it did for Dabo; and I must say just like it paid off in A Maimaita for Mallam Shekarau, Kano’s ANPP Governor from 2003 giving him an unprecedented second term in the April 2007 polls. If you ask me his initial dues were paid when he paid debts owed pensioners, another helpless cadre no doubt, even if cynical critics would say they are not so helpless as they had gotten helped by one of their own, as Shekarau himself was a pensioner long before becoming Governor. The jury is still out on the Shekarau Government, now only five months or so into the second term. Could this A Maimaita be the Mallam’s only pay off, or is there more in the offing? Time and the competition for higher duties will tell.

As for Lamido since doing what the Lord wants for Jigawa’s weakest groups everything his government does appears so blessed. A District Head from Kazaure, who is an activist of the State’s education NGO, Jigawa Parents-Teachers Association (PTA) confirmed on the State Radio’s live broadcast from Dutse State Library on Wednesday 31st October, that the Lamido Government’s allowances for the State’s physically challenged has revolutionized the lives of this category of helpless citizens. The elderly former educationist had been called upon to bless the commissioning of 13 buses bought by the Lamido Government for the state’s 13 girls’ boarding schools. He told of how his office at the village he administers at Jigawa’s most extreme end was involved with a census and supervision of payments for this helpless lot. He told Governor and all present or listening in on Radio how a 70-years-plus destitute confided in him that he had never in his 70-plus life had the good fortune of ever owning or earning N7,000 at one go but this time that Lamido remembered them. And he prayed for him and his government’s success. In answer to this prayer and many similar ones, from beneficiaries of the Lamido Government’s catering for the weak and underprivileged, for paying these dues Lamido’s Government is so far coasting well. Despite the daunting debts it inherited, still weighed down by court injunctions that stop impatient Lamido from doing much about some contracts from the past the new government has its doubts over, Alhaji Sule has still chalked up very impressive developments. Check out his earliest moves. Without much fanfare he had all government Ministries return their headquarters to Dutse. He reawakened the Dutse Capital Development Authority (DCDA) keeping the metropolis clean, green and environmentally friendly and now superintending the rapid construction of hundreds of housing units in the Capital to cater for the massive influx of civil servants and other citizens of Jigawa and neighbours into the State’s Capital City. He has since taking the mantle of leadership brought Jigawa, in particular the capital, back to life. Like a famous Hausa songster muses, “it is wherever the King sets his throne that cities thrive”. And Lamido’s throne is set right in the City of Dutse, the Jigawa State Capital. Since he won the April 2007 elections and got sworn in as Jigawa Governor I am certain Sule Lamido can count on the fingers of his two hands how many times he slept outside Dutse. Excluding the one time he traveled for the Umrah, and even that for just a week or so, with the leanest ever entourage for a Nigerian Governor of this day and age. He had only two aides on the trip, I am told. The Lamido Government has in just five months succeeded in weeding out the hundreds of ghost workers that populate Jigawa State Local Governments. Lamido has opened the gates of the state’s schools to girls for free, from the primary to tertiary levels. He has coaxed banks to come in and honour their corporate responsibilities in Jigawa rehabilitating and supporting the many hopelessly dilapidated structures in the state’s schools, including Government College, Birnin-Kudu, Lamido’s alma mater. He was first at Birnin-Kudu, the boarding primary school before finishing up at Barewa College Zaria, the then Northern region’s Premier College in present day Kaduna State. Still in the education sector, Lamido has increased monies for feeding for all boarders. Each boarding student used to feed on a mere N30 per head. He has had it doubled to N60 per student. He has as we learnt at the launch of the said 13 buses for the state’s 13 Girls boarding schools also decreed that all classes should contain no more than 50 students by the end of next year. By the end of this year he has ordered Professor (Mrs.) Ruqayya Ahmad Rufa’i, Jigawa’s first female professor to ensure that as Commissioner in the Ministry of Education that all classes be limited to a maximum of 150 pupils. There are classes across the state that have as many as 240/250 pupils, most seated on bare, unkempt floors. Yet again on education, Lamido has ordered for free health care for all students in boarding house. With a culture he has cultivated over time of responding to all calls and text messages on his personal GSM telephone lines, Lamido learnt from some concerned students that they were sent home whenever they fell sick. Another development in education has had to do with the state’s freshly graduated lawyers. One of them called the Governor and told him how they were not able to pay their way through Law School. Wednesday 31st October while launching the school buses, Lamido announced how he had sent the students to the relevant Government office to ensure they got fully sponsored by Jigawa. And they weren’t many, even if the fees were. At the bus launch which I had the privilege of attending where I learnt the many interesting goodies in the education sector of Jigawa we all got reminded of the rot that has set in, in State-sponsored education in Nigeria. The permanent secretary in the education ministry recalls how the last time buses were bought for any government school in Jigawa, was during the days of old Kano in 1977. He should know, for he has been serving government, late-40-yishly youthful looking though he is, for the past 27 years he says. This is discounting the 1994/’95 intervention during the tenure of Colonel Ibrahim Aliyu, when some international donor agencies gave some vehicles to the education sector. You would be surprised if I told you what impressed me the most in the commissioning and handover of the buses to girls schools with the anticipation that the 25 boys boarding schools are also to get their chance soon, seeing the speed with which Lamido’s interventions come. That all the buses had only the names of the schools painted on them. This is a refreshing and far cry from the practice in the past and in my state of Kano that echoes what occurs in many other states where LG Chairmen and Governors and even board chairmen, Directors and House of Assembly members have their names shamelessly boldly emblazoned on even the most insignificant and minor projects. Some so demean their names and the high offices they occupy plastering their names as having “donated” sign boards, as if they were NYSC members on community service projects. They have no shame! How many mechanics’ sheds or mosques repainted or buses do you see around in your locality with the names of the high and mighty “donating” them with the small percentage of the peoples’ money they allow to work for the people who vote for them? Apart from this, another impressive component of the launch was the revelation by Lamido that he had ordered his government functionaries not to respond to any criticism of what Government does. His reason?: that whoever says Lamido’s government has done wrong in any area is helping Lamido to adjust for the better. He should be thanked for that. That is new and improved Lamido, I must admit. And I know he knows just as all those who know him for as long as some of us have known him and as closely, do know what I mean.

For Lamido is not known to suffer fools or critics lightly. Normally! But these are abnormal times. For Lamido is now Governor after he appears remade by his experience at the Foreign affairs Ministry and what may well be termed his sojourn in the political wilderness between the years 2003 and 2007. Anyway, Lamido comfortingly now says where his critic knows he was telling lies, and making unfounded and mischievous criticisms, the good people of Jigawa know as much as the critic does that he was not being truthful. So why dignify him with an answer wasting Jigawa State’s precious time and resources? This makes sense. I would have done the same if I were Governor.

Or should I say when I become Governor? Of the Kano we had for many years been working towards since the days of “Sa(y)i Lamido!” Did I hear: “Amen?” Amen! Anyway despite that Lamido had some time to most rationally explain the need for befitting cars for LG chairmen, commissioners, advisers and other top government functionaries. He argued they needed to be propped up to measure up to their roles in the society. They must be so properly empowered that they can meritoriously and creditably perform their constitutional functions. What is more, the new vehicles Governor Lamido refers to as Pay As You Drive (PAYD?) that have drawn the ire of some opposition politicians, form part of the perks of office for political office holders as determined by the National Revenue Commission (RMAFC) and the Legislature, nationally and locally. Lamido though, I noticed, did not bother to respond to other jabs by the same critic who appeared to have drawn him out on this. The jab on the mass housing revolution Lamido has started. Probably because it has the obvious potential for totally swamping other politicians in Jigawa opposition politicians must naturally try all they could to deride and discredit it. That is why they’d say they are disagreeing with the contracts issued for the first batch, the 500 housing units at DanMasara in the outskirts of Dutse, the State capital. They say there was no due process in the awards. The laughable thing I overheard someone close to the government musing is that now that the people of Jigawa can see and relate with projects by their government, the critics are talking due process! The critics truly have more to shout over. As contracts for construction of a further 400 housing units in Dutse are now to be issued before the end of the month of November this year as another phase of the massive housing program the blessed Lamido Government plans for Jigawa State. Journalist and politician though I am I don’t think the opposition, even if they were in my beloved ANPP deserve any responses, gubernatorial or otherwise at this time. Especially as Lamido rightly pointed out he and those of us in the PRP an NEPU political tradition need not fear criticism or be bothered by it. Because we had all the years past been hitting out at all those in Government, knowing and believing that we have the magic wand to change matters. Now what we need do is show that we are not all lip. Perform. And even his enemies not mere political opponents must give it to Sule Lamido today as they just had to, to his former leader, Rimi in his days as Kano Governor (1979 to 1983) for doing well and acquitting his radical political party, our party, the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP). So all those who need to bash Lamido as Governor using him as the crutch to grow and be seen as capable must accept that his first steps so far are very comforting indeed; indicating that for once a critic in Government is at least this time around well and truly on course. But criticize they must and we as Lamido himself said, must welcome their criticism. But believe me should Governor Lamido derail, God forbid, we should all join in critiquing him back onto the track of rectitude. That is our tradition! The hope and prayer here of all those who want him to succeed of course is that Lamido won’t allow himself to be carried away by the superiority and older-citizen (“I’m older-than-you-all-Obasanjo-type”) complex to get the better of him. Or worse the ego-massaging compliments of people like us and those around him all eager to please him, so as to better get a piece of the action sooner or later. I know he is old enough and experienced enough to know that basking in the glory of such praise will stop him from truly listening to and humbly accepting advise from all and sundry, frightening away and turning off genuine advisors. If he does that I swear he will soon find that he is all on his own. Like his most recent benefactor ex-Governor now Senator Ibrahim Saminu Turaki found himself when he derailed from the hopes of the visionary many of us had of him at the very beginning of his tenure. This feeling of being superior when all supplicants bow to you because of the office you occupy has been the undoing of many a leader. May God, the Almighty help Lamido break this jinx especially as he has done well thus far paying his dues at take-off to God’s own people, the lowest and poorest of the poor. Another thing is that the fear I used to have that Lamido and his state would be suffer from over-reportage and unseemly exposure thus turning us (the people) off of Jigawa and its Lamido Government because of the nature of the both of them is now fast evaporating. I now fear that it actually is getting under-reported and grossly too, I must say; and may actually continue to be so under-reported for a very long time to come. Forget the many feature articles you read, like this one. I am talking of consistent routine reportage of what’s going on in Jigawa by the day. Unless the State probably may be, gets its own newspapers and newsmagazines, both state-owned and privately owned ones. Because everyday, you listen to Jigawa State Radio, or visit Dutse, the State Capital you get to hear and learn of new things happening or in the pipeline that you have not heard of. And this is no praise singing, I tell you. Just take a day off to go round the new improved City of Dutse and you will see what I mean.

That is how fast Lamido is fulfilling the dreams of his people. This time around Jigawa has ideas and consistency in execution of the ideas. There is confident finishing so far by the new administration.

And hey, the helmsman here has guts, believe me. When some teachers called him complaining about salary raises, he told them no. Not now. He asked them to look at their schools and the status they are at first. Should salary raises be their priorities? Why not consider the welfare of their pupils first? That is leadership from the front. But even then the teachers have a case. As I know Lamido knows. I expect he would turn to them next as soon as he finishes with the basics in their schools. Lamido, I dare repeat is after all destined for greater things, so he surely won’t leave any supplicant in any sector hanging and unfulfilled before moving on, if we consider the thesis of leaders who pay their dues on getting to their posts succeeding in their assignments and going for bigger jobs. Who knows whether Lamido may be our next president after Yar’adua? After Yar’adua in the North West zone PDP sure has no better choice? Again, I say this is no praise singing, I swear! My Governor I know (and Pray) should and will remain focused.

He is the only current (and past) PDP Governor who definitely has and belongs to a political network with the national breadth and reach that counts in such a contest unless other factors come into play. He has a decidedly sure reach covering all of the North, and beyond reaching as far back as the PRP and SDP days.

He was PRP’s National Youth Leader from 1979 and SDP national secretary up to 1993. He has succeeded in patching up and reconciling with many of his estranged political associates including his former leader Muhammad Abubakar Rimi and his many boys including former Jigawa Governors Ali Sa’adu Birnin-Kudu and Ibrahim Saminu Turaki and many, many others. That is why if he keeps on course I think he stands a very good chance of being the PDP heir apparent; with performance on his side and political mobilisation in his favour. And is he performing! As for mobilisation, now that is his turf. The only snag is the man will now “pick quarrel” with me for writing this. He will tell me when he gets the chance, “Hey, you! Stop this. You know I am getting too old for these your ambitious projections”. (Aha!, now here is the I’m-older-and-more-experienced-than-you-all-OBJ-type-syndrome that I so fear for my Governor again!). And I would say: “So what? You are not anywhere near as old as some oldies we know of around the corridors of power, now and in the very recent past. And you are a performer, man! Sorry, I mean, Sir!” I don’t want to call names, lest some of the bad taste of the very recent past come haunt us.

But then that was how we’ve always had our tiffs ages back. When I, with all humility fired the first shot canvassing for the Lamido for Governor Project in old Kano in the mid 80s, even while our Leader then, M.A.

Rimi was still in General Buhari and IBB’s jails. This earned me the wrath of some of my good friends and political associates who became chief beneficiaries of the subsequent politicking we got into. They unfortunately left me to undeserved quarrels, political quarrels with Lamido, my practical politics tutor and signpost; especially in those our younger and more tempestuous days -- younger proudly Fulani spirited Lamido and much younger equally proudly Fulani spirited Kabiru. That is in the past now, I do hope; even if I have not always been in the same Political Party with Lamido since early 1999. And as for age, by the Muslim Hijri calendar I’m already fifty now, and hopefully a lot wiser. Even if I, a-times (ill-advisedly), still disagree with some actions and inactions more often of the big (more often than not older) men in power I get to have the privilege of relating with.

K M Gwangwazo, former Chairman, Kano Municipal Council, former Chairman, ANPP, Kano State Chapter and former Special Adviser to Kano State Governor Shekarau is a Journalist and Politician. He writes from Kano City.

He is on 08034511721. (e-mail: kamgwangwazo@yahoo.com).